Various styles of cutters have long been available in the art. For example, certain styles of cutting tools that are operated only by hand have been designed specifically for cutting the hooves of horses or for other heavy duty cutting applications. The manually or hand operated cutter has long been known, and used in the equestrian arts for cutting hooves, aiding in the removal of nails, and for other applications related to purposes adaptable to farriers. Generally, such early cutters simply incorporated the pliers structure approach, where a pair of cams lead towards and terminate at cutting edges, and which are affixed into a pivotal relationship, like the common pliers, having lengthy extending handles that provide leverage for the cutting operation, and the ability to exert force necessary to cut through dense structure, like the hoof of a horse, when conducting the trimming act.
Of more recent vintage, is a hoof type trimmer device that is hydraulically actuated, so that significant pressure may be applied to the cutters, when nipping the hoof of a horse, or for trimming the same. Such prior art is shown in the Van Horn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,847, which discloses a hydraulic means that actuates a pair of C-shaped cutting blades, not unlike that which was embodied in the earlier manual type of cutter, as a forceps, and utilized a variety of lever arms to pull the cutting blades back into cutting proximity, for nipping of the hoof, during its usage. The working parts of the '847 device and other prior art devices are entirely exposed to the elements, and subject to corrosion and the like, and the moving parts of the prior art devices are manifestly unsafe when used by the operator, allowing clothing, fingers, hair, and other undesirable matter to be exposed to the moving parts of the device. Furthermore, it is unclear how such prior art devices can readily be used or manipulated by the operator of such devices as no handle or means for gripping or holding the device is shown or characterized. The pulling action of the piston in the '847 device results in a twisting of the blades, preventing the formation of a cutting edge at the point at which the blades are intended to be juxtaposed. The art failed to take advantage of such devices and still there is a long felt but unsolved need for improvements in this art area. Masters in the farrier arts continue to use manually operated c-shaped plier type cutting tools to effect their trade, requiring an unusually large amount of force when used, placing themselves into arduous, awkward, and risky positions given the nature of the animals that are being manipulated.
The current invention provides improvements upon the aspects of a cutting apparatus, by furnishing a fully encased, high pressure, hydraulic hand tool that incorporates structure that is substantially more rigorous and adaptable in its assembly within the tool, provides a tool that is more broadly applicable and adaptable to different heavy duty cutting needs, and with reference to the ease of use for the operator, provides substantially greater cutting precision, is easier to use, easier to handle and to grip, is lighter than tools in the prior art dedicated to the same or substantially the same cutting purposes, in certain embodiments and configurations is substantially safer than prior art tools, and can exert significantly more pressure than prior art tools when the tool is operated for a particular cutting action.